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OK, now I get it

Spaces… didn’t get it, didn’t try it, til today.

WOW! What a concept!

In a nutshell, OS X has the ability to create virtual screens for you. You create a matrix of screens, assign applications to a specific screen then manage your work by going to specific screens. Yeah, it sounded too complicated to me as well.

Here’s what I did:

1) Created a matrix of 2 wide by 3 deep of screens and added the Spaces element to the menu bar

2) I assigned Safari to screen 1

3) I assigned Transmit, Textmate and CSSEdit to screen 3 (vertically right below screen 1)

4) I assigned XyleScope to screen 5 (vertically down again)

Now I quickly move from screen to screen by clicking on the Spaces menu bar element. Its easier to do then to describe. The reason why I mentioned the vertical aspect is that it seems easier for me to keep track of what is on which screen by thinking of my Web edit environment as three vertical screens. My Final Cut environment could be vastly different.

I also made Preview open documents in Screen 2, this way, I can have eBooks open all the time and switch over to review something very easily.

Try it out, slowly then you’ll start to Spaces in a whole new light!

Simple video
showing what I mean. Watch the cursor as I move between screens, each time the cursor goes to the menu bar, I select another screen.

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OK, now its time to work on the Tools

The last time that I worked on my page about Tools was when I was using Final Cut Express… ok, I can’t remember when that was.

The Notes are about the films, once they are made and the notes are written, its over. But the Tools, they are ever changing!

To help me focus on what I need to work on, I’ll add some comments here to either set me up or give me guidance. This blog is my conscience.

Start with the tools and lay it out chronologically. When I was starting out, the greatest thing for me was two simple things; one could make a great video out of stills (thanks, Ken Burns) and two, a very simple circa 2002 digital camera could make 4-5 second videos that could be turned into a short film.

It was such a heady feeling to make a MOVIE! (then I learned it was supposed to be called a FILM). Tomato, potato.

I’m going back to talk about the tools…

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Almost there!

A few more tweaks made late last night!

I still have some image line-up issues but my new site is ready to go. It isn’t dramatically different than last years model but its no longer a TABLE! Woot!

OK, its not that big of a deal but it no longer nags me as I lay awake at night…

New version and Old Version.

Next up? The remaining pages, new look and new text!

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I did it!*

OK, I committed to do a lot this weekend, clean the garage, create and document my Mom’s blog and change my layout from tables-based to CSS.

I did it all! Woohoo! *Well, I’m still working on my site but it is 95% complete!

OK, little things first. A lot of work, sweat and dirt and I can now park my car in the garage. So I moved all of the stuff from the front of the garage to the back, so what? Parking my car in the garage is sweet!

My Mom’s blog? Done. Documentation? Done. I kinda like it as well! Still couldn’t get the Flash uploader to work, though.

WRP, off tables? Done! Well, almost. I am still working on the site trying to figure out how to do my menu. It is more of a design issue than a CSS issue.

I didn’t go fluid, I went fixed. Maybe that is cheating, I don’t know but I wanted to do something that I understood. So as I stated earlier, I used some guidance from the Opera site. In fact, one site advising how to create a grids and the other about progressive enhancement, was all that I needed!

The grid article was great and I used it to start from scratch. Once I created a grid, I started to think about the grid in respect to the table-based design. It worked great!